


A Well-Dressed Man in the Cross-Hairs

by feverbeats



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-05
Updated: 2010-11-05
Packaged: 2017-10-13 02:04:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/131607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feverbeats/pseuds/feverbeats
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ariadne leaves him in winter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Well-Dressed Man in the Cross-Hairs

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "The Perfect Crime #2" by The Decemberists.

Arthur isn't good at people. His job is to study them, to collect all the salient facts, but that doesn't mean he has to understand them. He always ends up feeling as if he's missed something vital that everyone else has worked out.

This doesn't make relationships easy.

*

Cobb leaves him in spring. They're in France, and Cobb's mentor, who Arthur has never liked, introduces Cobb to his daughter. When they meet, Arthur tries to work out what he's missing, frowning in concentration until Mallorie laughs and tells him to smile, and that it's nice to meet him.

Two weeks later, he's sitting in a Parisian café, getting broken up with.

"I don't understand," he says blankly.

Cobb sighs and rubs a hand over his face. "I'm sorry. I didn't want things to change, but they have, and it's not fair to drag this out."

"Yeah," Arthur says, "Okay." He can hear birds somewhere and the air smells improbably of flowers. It's probably just someone's perfume. These facts are useless.

"I'm glad you get it," Cobb is saying, sounding relieved.

Arthur doesn't get it. Not at all.

*

One of the first things Eames says to him when they meet is, "I'm good at people." He says it casually, dismissing Arthur's raised eyebrow at how Eames can read him like a book.

Eames leaves him in summer.

*

Ariadne leaves him in winter. After the Fischer job, they try it for a while, but it doesn't work, and this time, Arthur understands. They're both perfectionists, control freaks, and with no balance, they just wind each other tighter. Even the sex is tense.

Besides, Ariadne wants, no, _needs_ to fix everything and everyone around her. But Arthur cannot be fixed.

The sky is bluish gray and the ground is white with frost. It's just barely dawn and she's already packed, not that she had much with her anyway. There is a peach streak in the sky that exactly matches her scarf. She threads cold fingers together and says, "Well, we gave it a shot."

Arthur doesn't like the choice of words. He doesn't like that she shouted at him about his gun collection. He just tamps down on everything, though, and says, "Yeah. I'll see you around."

*

Between Cobb and Ariadne, there is Eames. Eames, who's wearing a sweat-stained t-shirt and a pair of Arthur's socks and saying angrily, "You don't _feel_ right. I mean, you don't know how to do it."

 _You are ridiculous_ , Arthur wants to say. _Look at yourself._ Instead, he says, "At least I don't fake feelings."

Eames opens his mouth. Then he says, "I wish you would."

But Eames is asking Arthur to live a lie, and it's not that he _wouldn't_ , he's just not very good at it. He'll leave lying to people who can do it, like the man standing across the kitchen from him.

Cobb lets him down easy in a café and Ariadne walks out cold in Los Angeles, but with Eames, it isn't so easy. It's a breakup that lasts the better part of three years, starting in that apartment in Madrid and ending up in a handful of other major cities and small towns.

One night Eames finds Arthur in a small town in Washington and says, "I miss your mouth."

"You're drunk," Arthur replies numbly. "How the hell did you find me?"

"Being drunk's never stopped me finding anyone before," Eames slurs, falling against Arthur in the hotel hallway.

Arthur wants to say that's not what he meant, or to ask Eames if he's pretending to be drunker than he is, but he just touches Eames instead. That's something he can't screw up as easily, although he's been told he's doesn't always do that right, either.

In the morning, Eames sneaks out noisily while Arthur pretends to be asleep.

In Madrid, Eames threw a suitcase at him. Arthur would have liked that to be the end, but they keep running into each other. The dreamsharing community is still small enough that sometimes it's unavoidable. It never ends well.

Once, Arthur breaks Eames's nose. He still doesn't know what went wrong, or why Eames keeps coming back.

And Eames does come back. Stupid, sentimental Eames comes back in autumn, nine months after Ariadne leaves. Arthur is in Colorado, doing nothing much besides getting coffee at a Starbucks, when he runs into Eames.

"Arthur!" Eames says, throwing his arms wide with complete insincerity.

"What are you doing here?" Arthur asks, tired. He's tired of trying. He doesn't know what the hell he's doing wrong, and he's sick of being told things that don't make sense.

"Well," Eames says, dropping his arms and pursing his lips, "I heard you were in town, and I was passing through. And I thought we could give it another go."

Nobody says that. Nobody says that within five seconds of seeing his ex again and nobody says that in the middle of a Starbucks.

So Arthur says, "Okay. Fine. Whatever you say. Just let me get my coffee."

He stands in line and waits for the seasons to tick through to summer again.


End file.
